Training Log Archive: cmorse

Event: NEOC - Mt. Tom
 

Gorgeous day at Mt Tom - many thanks to Phil and Co. for putting it on. Ran the 11 of 18 score-O with Hayden - I did most of the decision making, pointed out to him what we needed to do, then set about coaching him along the execution of each leg. Did pretty well, slow going up the mountain and a minor bobble on #4 where I misinterpreted which stream we were following down to marsh, and thus we crossed the marsh further N than I thought we did. Stopped off to see some dinosaur trackways along the CT River on the way home.



Some more photos at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/cmorse01/sets/7215762...

Afternoon ride with the boys from 189 in East Granby down to Antonio's in Simsbury and back. Lots of crap blown out of the trees onto trail (moved a pretty sizable tree blocking the trail near the airport). Tough headwind around Imperial. Nice day to be out, would have like to go farther but Hayden got tired pretty quickly...

Been thinking about selling the slipstream and getting a lighter bent, most likely a short wheel base, for a couple months now. But I really, really like the slipstream - just not so keen on it being so heavy. And ultimately I'd really like to do some long distance touring - so this would be the ideal bike for me for that purpose. So now I'm thinking that perhaps I'll see if I can't lighten it up a bit - particularly the seat which I'm not 100% wild about, and maybe some lighter wheels - rather than selling it and regretting it down the road. Of course it would be great if I could afford two 'bents (touring plus a go fast bike) - but not bloody likely..

I was thinking how little I've ridden the bike this year (hitch mount fell off old van, new van doesn't have a hitch mount yet) and was looking at my yearly totals. I'm currently on target to match my highest volume in 10 years of logging on attackpoint. So with a little effort, maybe I can surpass that mark. We'll see...

Met up w/ Ron, Mike & JT for a run at Gay City. Another cold soggy - 43F to start, heavy rain lightened up to just steady rain during the run.

Outer loop CCW from main entrance, down into Blackledge and back up - will measure real distance later.. Current distance is just a guess based upon perceived pace.

Got home from work, still wearing wet tights and shoes (didn't make sense to shower and change only to get wet again finishing up the watering). Had to retrieve the van from the shop where it was having brake service today, so opted to run up and pick it up just before dark rather than have to pack the kids up to do a multi-car shuttle.

Legs pretty sore running on pavement - they felt just fine running in the woods 5 hours ago...

odd bruise on the top of my L foot - noticed it after showering yesterday, but it wasn't there in the evening. Mysteriously reappeared tonight after showering again. Foot doesn't hurt, no known trauma to the foot but assume its due to the running.

Event: Manchester Road Race
 

Fine day for a road race. Went in to work early, then headed to Bolton Notch, caught the race shuttle to downtown and then killed about an hour and a half before race time. Ran into many friends. Lined up in the 30-35 block which put me maybe 6-7 seconds off the actual start line - which is certainly far better than the back of the pack - the back end doesn't even cross the start line for 8-9 minutes. I think there were 14,000 registered runners, but loads of other people just jump in.

Stayed on the right side so actually had good open road right from the start except for dodging the folks who were jumping in from the side. Running with the camera in hand in burst mode - I'd occasionally point it ahead or behind me while running and squeeze off a bunch of shots - don't know if any will come out - but what the heck. I was taking photos of folks before (and after) the race and didn't have anyone to hand if off to, so took photos on the run as well.

Hit the first mile in 6:08 (6:39 last year) a little concerned was going out too fast but was concentrating on turnover and trying to keep some clear road in front of me - avoiding the weavers. Felt just fine.

2nd mile (the hill) in 7:18 (7:24) - Hit the upper part of the hill in 7:18, legs feeling the climb but not terrible. Missed getting a shot of safety man.

3rd mile in 6:25 (6:20) - trying to keep the turnover high and not stride too long, feeling pretty good but around 3-3.5 miles I often feel it the most on this course. I think I pushed pretty hard here last year.

4th mile in 6:30 (6:54?) -

4:42 (4:50) to the finish line. exactly one minute quicker than last year for a new Manchester PR. Only a minute more to get a sub-30 seeding card. That would be pretty cool, though it would only buy me a second or two off gun time - so just kind of a soft target.

I guess its time to get some work done so I can go home and have some turkey...

C • Nice run 2

lots of easy jogging around before the race since I got there 90 minutes early. At least 20 minutes of jogging, probably more...

Updated my race entry - preliminary results show my net time at 30:58 so it appears I did in fact break 31 minutes. Woohoo!!

Another one of my goals going in today was to take a few more scalps - last year I finished 448th, so my goal was to shoot for a top 400 finish. Nabbed that one too finishing in 378th place, 59th in my age class.

Double bonus!!

probably won't bother going out today - save it for tomorrow...

I've recently been reading some stuff about running efficiency and particularly stride frequency (aka turnover). It has been noted that most elite runners have a stride rate of just about 180 footfalls per minute, which mirrors the reputed optimum cycling cadence of 90 rpm.

I've also been amazed by the apparent leg turnover of runners of shorter stature (Peter Gagarin and Deb Livingston come to mind) that I've run with.

So yesterday while running at Valley Falls I tried to measure my stride rate on the rail trail sections - but it was kind of a pain in the butt counting while checking the watch. So this AM it occurs to me that an easier way to assess this would be to run with a metronome. So a quick search on iTunes finds a couple of metronome apps for the ipod touch, download a likely looking free app, set it to 2/4 time, 180bpm (vivace) with a rimshot on the downbeat and hihat on the upbeat. Then set out to do a brief 20 minute run on the dirt road to see if I could keep the tempo - left foot on the rimshot, right foot on the hihat.

Settled right into a nice groove, thought the ticking in my head would be annoying but it really wasn't and found that 180 bpm felt just fine - not too fast nor too slow and I really didn't have to think about it much and my footfalls landed just about right. I did find when I'd crest a small hill that I seemed to speed up slightly so I lengthened my stride slightly to accommodate, but that was about it.

An interesting experiment and worth repeating on longer runs to see how consistent the stride frequency is. I suspect that it slows as I fatigue, but perhaps by running with the metronome in my ear, I can train myself to maintain the steady cadence over the longer runs and thus hopefully improve my overall speed. Won't help my orienteering worth a damn, but hey, I've gotta work on something...

C • 180 bpm 3

Its been a while since I've done a cold soggy..... Met up with Ron at Valley Falls and ran the blue/yellow trail - around the east side of the park is very nice, I hadn't been up the part of it before, then across to the rail trail then up to Box Mtn, then back. Steady rain, low 40's nice run... Should have worn the contacts...